FEB 25 — Of late we have witnessed the on going rumblings with regard to the hiring of 1.5 million foreign workers, especially from Bangladesh.
The foreign workers would be placed at companies/sectors where jobs are said to be Dangerous, Dirty and Difficult (3D).
Hearing the term 3D, sends fear and a sense of low esteem to the locals, who might as well be fit and willing to be employed in these sectors.
The reason for bringing in foreign labour is to fill up the vacancies in the 3D job sectors as locals are said to shun away from these types of jobs.
I find the terms dirty, dangerous and difficult as exaggeration and would only distant the locals from taking up these kinds of jobs.
Any job could be difficult and any job could be dangerous. Lack of appropriate skills could make a job difficult and dangerous. Furthermore, danger should not be measured by the yardstick of physical danger alone. Jobs requiring the use of the intellect could as well be risky and pose a danger to health accruing from stress. Moreover, I am of the opinion that any job which is legal should not be termed dirty.
I am not denying the fact that the so called 3D jobs are risky and labour intensive, hence, they should be termed as Labour Intensive Jobs (LIJ). Perhaps, this might ward off the fears and the stigma attributed to the LIJ, especially among locals, thereby attracting them to these jobs.
It's high time we stop demeaning the Labour Intensive Jobs. There should be a continuous awareness campaign of the actual nature of these jobs. Instead of stigmatising these jobs, let's portray them in a more positive light.
*The writer is an Associate Professor at Faculty of Social Sciences & Humanities, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia.
** This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of Malay Mail Online.
